There is no way in which a simple substance could begin in the course of nature, since it cannot be formed by means of compounding.
Gottfried LeibnizAnd there must be simple substances, because there are compounds; for the compound is nothing but a collection or aggregatum of simples.
Gottfried LeibnizWe should like Nature to go no further; we should like it to be finite, like our mind; but this is to ignore the greatness and majesty of the Author of things.
Gottfried LeibnizThere are two famous labyrinths where our reason very often goes astray. One concerns the great question of the free and the necessary, above all in the production and the origin of Evil. The other consists in the discussion of continuity, and of the indivisibles which appear to be the elements thereof, and where the consideration of the infinite must enter in.
Gottfried Leibniz